Monthly Shipping and Marketing Report | December 2020

Council Update

November 19, 2020
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the appointment of three members to serve on the Mushroom Council. The appointees will serve three-year terms from Jan. 1, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2023. Members appointed are:

Curtis Jurgensmeyer, Miami, Oklahoma – Representing Region 1
Joe Caldwell, Wyomissing, Pennsylvania – Representing Region 2
Jane Rhyno, Ontario, Canada- Representing Region 4

The nine-member council is comprised of eight domestic growers and one importer. The members represent four regions: three domestic growers are from states other than California and Pennsylvania (Region 1), four domestic growers are from Pennsylvania (Region 2), one domestic grower is from California (Region 3) and the importer represents Region 4. Council members are nominated by their peers and appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture.

More information about the council, including a roster of members, is available on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Mushroom Council webpage and on the council’s website at www.mushroomcouncil.org.

Since 1966, Congress has authorized the development of industry-funded research and promotion boards to provide a framework for agricultural industries to pool their resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets and conduct important research and promotion activities. AMS provides oversight of 21 boards, paid for by industry assessments, which helps ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.

2021 COUNCIL MEMBERS

Region 1: All states except CA & PA

Curtis Jurgensmeyer – J-M Farms – OK – 2nd Term
Fletcher Street – Ostrom Mushroom Farms, WA – 1st Term
Ed Wuensch – Kitchen Pride Mushroom Farms – TX – 1st Term

Region 2: PA

Sonya Beltran – Masda Mushrooms – PA – 2nd Term
Joe Caldwell – Giorgi Mushroom Company – PA – 2nd Term
Meghan Klotzbach – C.P. Yeatman & Sons – PA – 1st Term
Mark Moran – Kaolin Mushrooms – PA – 1st Term

Region 3: CA

Emily Bettencourt – Global Mushrooms – CA – 1st Term

Region 4: Imports

Jane Rhyno – Highline Mushrooms – ON – 2nd Term

Open Positions on the Council (2022-2024 term):

A call for nominations will be sent on or about February 1, 2021 for three open positions on the Council for the 2022-2024 term.

Region 2 (PA) – two open positions
Region 3 (CA) – one open position

Mushroom growers have ideas, skills, experiences and perspectives that would benefit the industry; be a voice for your industry by becoming part of the Council.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Mushroom Council encourages all eligible producers, including women, minorities and individuals with disabilities to participate and seek nomination.

REMINDER

The Council office has moved! Below is our new contact information. Reports & payments still go to the lockbox.

Mushroom Council
200 NE Missouri Rd, Ste 200
Lee’s Summit, MO 64086
(816) 251-4512

Next Council Meeting:
Scheduled as a Zoom meeting on February 18, 2021

Exemption Applications:
The exemption applications for the 2021 calendar year have been mailed to those who are currently exempt. If you do not receive an application, please email [email protected]

Shipment Summary

To see current charts, click here.

The Month Ahead

DIGITAL

December featured content will include “Creative Ways to Celebrate the Holidays in 2020” as well as “The Top 10 Blended Recipes from 2020.” Watch for that content to go live on MushroomCouncil.com and Blenditarian.com on December 1.

SCHOOL NUTRITION

In December, Mushrooms in Schools will be highlighting the many health benefits of mushrooms through social media and an upcoming blog post. Our goal is to continue to increase traffic to the website and raise awareness among school nutrition professionals and families about the health benefits of mushrooms.

Highlights from November

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Chef Mitzi Jackson-Robinson, a 2019 Blended Burger Project participant, cooked a Short Rib & Portabella Mushroom Blended Burger on the Comfort Food Feud: Burgers episode of Food Network’s Chopped. Watch a brief clip or the episode here or check Food Network’s website for episode air-times.
Sally Kuzemchak, MS, RD said “mushrooms deserve to be tossed into your shopping cart and added to meals a lot more often” in an article for WebMD. Discover her 6 Reasons to Eat More Mushrooms, which includes nods to nutritional benefits, The Blend and sustainability.

DIGITAL

Our November grower spotlight featured Chris White from J-M Farms.
- Engage and share his post from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
- If you would like to feature someone from your farm in a future month, please email [email protected].
November featured content included the Bon Appetit Blended Burger Contest finalists + winning burger recipes.
- Watch and share the video announcement from the Blenditarian blog post.

SCHOOL NUTRITION

In November, Mushrooms in Schools focused on encouraging schools to allocate some of their USDA Foods dollars towards fresh mushrooms through the Department of Defense (DoD) purchases. Please share the blog post we published, which includes useful tips for making the most of USDA Foods allocations for next school year.
First Taste TV Episode Re-Airing: This fall, Malissa Marsden, Consultant for Mushrooms in Schools, had the opportunity to share the many benefits and uses for mushrooms in schools on FirstTasteTV, a digital platform specifically created for school food service professionals and manufacturers (read more about it here). The episode is re-airing on the FirstTasteTV Facebook page December 9th at 11am & 9pm EST. Please share the opportunity with your followers, and tune in!

Sales Materials

Mushrooms in Schools created new marketing materials to assist schools in celebrating local mushrooms in school meals, including a Farm to School fact sheet for parents, social media graphics, and sample Tweets, available for download here. Please share with your customers and sales teams, and use the materials yourself!

Metrics

Mushroom Channel

Blenditarian

Hashtags

Monthly Topline Report

Tracker Highlights – Period ending 09/06/2020

Spotlight – Notable and Newsworthy

In the 4-weeks – Mushroom category continues to outshine total produce
In the 52-weeks – Higher volume and rising prices continue to drive dollar growth

Mushroom category sales continued to outpace total produce. Mushroom sales were up +17.7% in the four-week period, +8.5 points ahead of total produce
Dollar growth was driven by volume (+14.9%) and average price/lb. (+2.5%)
All regions experienced double-digit increases in dollar sales, led by California (+25.2%)
- This growth was driven by double-digit dollar gains in most tracked markets, led by Los Angeles at +31.7%
Conventional and Organic mushroom sales continued to grow this period. Conventional dollar sales added +$14.7M (+18.2%) and contributed 87.1% of dollar growth, while Organic dollar sales gained +$1.8M (+14.8%)

*IRI/FreshLook Data provided by Fusion Marketing

Click Here for the Full Topline Report